On the boxcutter/stanley knife issue, that knife from the trial is not quite the typical fixed-retractable-blade Stanley type knife, on which the blade cannot protrude beyond an inch or so from the handle. That type is still a lethal weapon, able to cut accessible arteries or cause sufficient cuts to more minor blood vessels as to cause severe bloodloss. Moreover, on the streets of Britain's inner cities, its a terror weapon more than anything; more easily carried and explained than even tactical or utility lockknives, yet capable of serious intimidation in the hands of a determined assailant, especially where the victim is unarmed and unused to street violence. It's been said that hand-to-hand or streetfighting is about pain, not lethal or incapacitating wounds. For someone not brought up in areas where this sort of weapon and mindset is likely to be encountered, that becomes
fear of pain. The terrorists wouldn't have needed to kill any passengers, or even (as it seems likely they would have) cut any of them. Simply grab a passenger and make clear what would happen to any of them if they didn't go along with instructions. Not to mention the threat of a bomb, and the complete lack of precedent for the suicide hijacking tactic.
If some or all of the knives were the type seen in the trial, post #57 in
this thread is key. It addresses the implication by the CTists that the blade of a Stanley-type knife would not be long enough to cut deeply enough to be an effective weapon. It rightly points out that the knife in question was an extendable-blade type, giving a 3-4" long razor-sharp slashing weapon, though less robust than a Stanley.
Either weapon, or indeed a lockknife (which surely even the brave macho CTists would think twice about facing), would have been more than sufficient for the task. Hell, just the "we have a bomb" comment would have done.
But we knew all this. What I would like to do, were it not so utterly distasteful, would be to take a leaf from the experimental archaeology/living history playbook, and to make cuts on ballistic gelatin or (sorry) meat, to show to the coddled, sheltered, cowardly CTists just how deadly these various types of weapon actually are. Failing that, there are numerous accounts of their real-life effects in my own country:
A woman killed by Stanley knife-inflicted neck wound.
Various accounts of small knives including Stanleys, as used by criminals in Scotland.
Accounts of knife crime including a Stanley knife, post-police knife amnesty.
A woman given a 9cm cut in her leg.
A neck wound that needed eight stitches.
Mentally ill man uses one to take a doctor hostage.
Security guard hospitalised after a stab wound - showing that the knives aren't just effective as cutting weapons.
A football fan is slashed from shoulder to waist.
A policeman dies after a knife attack at a football match.
I could go on...
